DISQUALIFYING OFFENSES
Below please find information for individuals interested in becoming an Adult, Family or Youth Peer Supporter in Ohio, who have criminal records or are on court sanctions (including probation/parole).
CLICK HERE to review Ohio Administrative Code.
Please note, in Ohio, individuals may not be certified as a Peer Supporter while on probation, parole or any type of court sanction. Individuals may complete The Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services Adult or Youth Peer Support Training while on probation/parole/court sanction, but you must wait until your court sanction has ended to apply for certification.
At the bottom of this page, you will find a list of disqualifying offenses for Peer Supporter Certification. Per Ohio Administrative Code, if an individual has any of the below offenses, they are not eligible to apply for Peer Supporter Certification. There is no waiver for these offenses. If you do have an offense listed below, make sure that the code of the offense on your record matches the code of the offense listed below. If the code of your offense is not listed below, then the offense is not a disqualifying offense.
If you do have an offense with one of the below codes, you may consider the below 3 options. Please note that The Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services cannot provide legal advice or assist in any of the below processes:
1. Obtain a Certificate of Qualification for Employment (CQE) through the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. You may read about the CQE at this web address: https://drc.ohio.gov/cqe
2. Obtain a pardon through the Ohio Governor’s Expedited Pardon project: https://governor.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/governor/priorities/expedited-pardon- project. The Ohio State University offers assistance with this project: https://www.ohioexpeditedpardon.org/
3. Have the charge sealed/expunged from your court record.
Disqualifying Offenses: Note: This is the OhioMHAS list of disqualifying offenses. It is the minimum criteria used to certify individuals as Peer Supporters.
Applications that include a certificate of qualification for employment of equivalent certification associated with a permanent exclusion offense will be reviewed by the department and a decision will be rendered by the department on a case by case basis as to whether an application will be approved or not.
The following offenses are permanently disqualifying as set forth in the rule, any equivalent federal offense or offense from another state will also be permanently disqualifying: (a) 2903.01 (aggravated murder) (b) 2907.02 (rape) (c) 2907.03 (sexual battery) (d) 2907.05 (gross sexual imposition) (e) 2907.32 (pandering obscenity) (f) 2907.322 (pandering sexually-oriented matter involving a minor) (g) 2907.323 (illegal use of minor in nudity-oriented material or performance) (h) 2909.23 (making terrorist threat) (i) 2909.24 (terrorism) The following offenses are disqualifying for a period of five years from the end of any sanctions; any equivalent federal offense or offense from another state will also be disqualifying for a period of five years: (a) 2903.15 (permitting child abuse) (b) 2903.16 (failing to provide for a functionally impaired person) (c) 2903.34 patient abuse and neglect (d) 2903.341 patient endangerment (e) 2905.05 criminal child enticement (felony level) (f) 2905.33 (unlawful conduct with respect to documents); (g) 2905.32 trafficking in persons (h) 2907.04 unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, formerly corruption of a minor (i) 2907.06 sexual imposition (j) 2907.07 importuning (k) 2907.08 voyeurism (l) 2907.12 felonious sexual imposition (m) 2907.31 disseminating matter harmful to juveniles (n) 2907.321 pandering obscenity involving a minor (o) 2909.22 soliciting/providing for act of terrorism (p) 2913.40 (Medicaid fraud) (q) 2919.22 endangering children |
